Leonardo DiCaprio was originally slated to play the part when the project was set up at Fox.


Oscar winner Sam Rockwell is readying to close a deal to star in Clint Eastwood's latest drama, The Ballad of Richard Jewell.


The Warner Bros. project is the story of the titular disgraced Olympic security guard who was working at the 1996 Olympic Summer Games when he discovered a backpack containing pipe bombs and subsequently sounded the alarm and helped to clear the area. Initially hailed as a hero, Jewell was soon the prime suspect, however, as the FBI searched his home twice and a media frenzy painted him as an overweight failed cop.


Rockwell will play the lawyer that would help to clear Jewell's name.


The movie had been set up at Fox since 2014, with Leonardo DiCaprio on board to play Jewell's attorney and Jonah Hill set to play the security guard.


Hill and DiCaprio are now producing the project, with Tim Moore, Jessica Meier, Kevin Misher and Jennifer Davisson, DiCaprio’s partner at Appian Way. Billy Ray wrote the screenplay.


Rockwell was last in theaters playing George W. Bush in Adam McKay's Vice, and can currently be seen playing Bob Fosse on FX's Fosse/Verdon. He is repped by Gersh and Untitled.